Ruth Moody is an award-winning singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist hailing from Winnipeg, Manitoba. Her otherworldly soprano voice and her inspired songwriting have gained the admiration of the hearts, minds, and ears of millions of listeners. As a solo artist and a founding and current member of The Wailin’ Jennys, she has garnered two JUNO Awards and performed to rapt audiences in sold-out venues around the globe.
Music runs through Ruth’s veins. A first-generation Canadian immigrant, her early years were spent on a goat farm in rural Manitoba, where she grew up singing in harmony with her brother and sisters. Raised by a master musician mother and an English teaching father, melody and verse were married in her mind long before she ever picked up a guitar. By age twenty she was traversing the continent in an old brown van with the wild and untamed progressive roots band, Scrüj MacDuck. She never stopped moving, and went on to co-found The Wailin’ Jennys in 2002, and began her own solo career in 2010.
Ruth’s solo albums The Garden and These Wilder Things received glowing reception from fans and critics alike. Her collaborations with the legendary Mark Knopfler on These Wilder Things and his albums Privateering and Tracker brought her voice to music lovers across the world, and 2015 saw her performing in Europe and the UK in legendary venues such as The Royal Albert Hall, both as a support act and as a guest of Mark’s band. After riding the whirlwind of shows and opportunities that arose from the association with Mark, Ruth took some much-needed time off to start a family in 2016.
Her brand new album, Wanderer (out May 17th on her own Blue Muse Records), is the chronicle of her life’s journey over the last ten years. Wanderer explores the emotional journey of motherhood, the joy and pain of life, the mysterious and complicated dance of love, and ultimately, the longing we all feel for home, wherever that may be.
Recorded at Sound Emporium in Nashville, the self-penned album was co-produced by Moody and Dan Knobler (Allison Russell, Lake Street Dive) and mixed by Tucker Martine (My Morning Jacket, First Aid Kit, The Decemberists). Moody brought together her favourite musicians and challenged herself to be as present and honest in her performance as possible. The result is a transcendent collection of ten deeply powerful and personal songs that reflect Moody’s inner world and wanderings.
From the first note, the listener is immersed in a lush and intimate world, welcomed by sounds at once classic, mysterious, and enchanting: open-tuned guitars inspired by Moody’s heroes, Joni Mitchell and Laura Marling; soaring pedal steel; otherworldly vocals; intricate harmonies; and the rich echo-chamber reverb of the legendary Nashville studio. From the restless, nostalgic energy of ‘Seventeen’, a true-life story of unrequited love and an homage to Moody’s hometown of Winnipeg, to the jaw-droppingly beautiful duet with fellow Canadian roots music standout Joey Landreth on ‘The Spell of the Lilac Bloom’, the album takes the listener on a mesmerizing journey through time and space. The climactic title track, ‘Wanderer’, embodies the true spirit of love and belonging that we all seek in its repeated final chorus: “Love is Calling You Home”.
Ruth splits her time between Vancouver Island and Nashville, TN, and when she is not on the road with her band or The Wailin’ Jennys, she spends her time writing, hiking, and keeping up with her seven-year-old son.
Festivals & Appearances
REVIEWS / TESTIMONIALS
“Possibly possesses the prettiest voice in all of North Americana these days”
Huffington Post
“Ruth Moody hits the ball out of the park”
No Depression
“Moody’s voice is clear and deceptively wistful, capable of conveying powerful and dark emotions.”
The Telegraph (UK)
“Earth’s landscape is her canvas…waves, wind and the moon are the individual colors residing on her most colorful palette.”
American Songwriter